


Speaking Up

by kqmarches



Category: Zombies Run!
Genre: Abel Township, American Runner Five, Female Runner Five, Friendship, Mute Runner Five, Muteness, Sign Language, could be 5am could be platonic, very mild spoilers for early missions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-28
Updated: 2019-07-05
Packaged: 2020-05-28 13:05:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,249
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19394740
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kqmarches/pseuds/kqmarches
Summary: Someone from Five's past reappears, someone she thought was long gone. She has to decide what to do, and fast - and she'll need to enlist some help.





	1. Chapter One

**Author's Note:**

> Just as a warning, this work contains discussion of attempted sexual assault. It is NOT described in a graphic or explicit way, but it IS present all the same. Please proceed with caution if you are particularly sensitive to this topic.

“That’s good, Five! Keep on just like that. You’re doing well,” Jody called from the other end of the training yard, where she was timing Five’s sprinting drill. “Don’t forget to breathe!”

Five began another sprint, focusing all her energy on breaking her last record. She wasn’t in first place out of all the runners, not for sprinting anyway, and that wasn’t a problem for her. Even so, the idea of not improving even the tiniest bit each time she did this was unacceptable. She had come two seconds short last time, and even though she knew it was because she hadn’t gotten enough rest the night before, she had been hard on herself about it.

“You’ve got it! Go, go, go!” Jody encouraged her as she began her last sprint. “You’ve almost beaten your last time!”

Five put on a burst of speed she didn’t even know she had in her and practically launched herself through the last sprint while Jody cheered and applauded like a cheerleader. 

“You’ve done it, Five! You were under your best time by nearly four seconds!” Jody called as she jogged over to show Five the timer. “I can’t believe it!”

Five grinned and leaned over, hands on her knees, as she caught her breath. Jody clapped her on the back. 

“Good show,” said Jody. The alarm suddenly blared and the sound of the gates opening and guns firing filled their ears. “What in the - I didn’t think we had a run scheduled.”

Jody and Five ran to the entrance to see what was happening. To their surprise, a small group of men were running at full speed through the gates, filthy from top to bottom, all of them looking thin and worn. 

“Good lord, where did they come from?” Jody wondered aloud. Five shrugged. “Looks like they’ve had a rough go of it.”

“They’re probably from the city,” Five signed. 

“Must have put out a distress call or something.”

“There’s Sam.”

Sam was walking out of the comms shack, moving with purpose over to the refugees, extending a hand to the nearest man and greeting him politely. He had a huge grin on his face that Five had come to know as his smile of relief when people he was monitoring got out of a tight spot. Knowing him, it would be plastered on his face for hours. Five was glad to see it, and when she caught his eye, she waved to him and smiled just as widely. Sam came over with a spring in his step. 

“What’s all this about, Sam?” Jody asked as he got nearer. 

“All the way from Birmingham, can you believe it?” said Sam, pointing to the group. “They’ve been traveling all over the place trying to find somewhere safe. I saw them coming up on the cameras, but it wasn’t until they were only a quarter-mile away that we could get audio. God, I shudder to think what their equipment looks like.”

Janine had emerged as well and was in conversation with another member of the group as Five looked over the men. They looked much the way she imagined she must have looked when she first arrived at Abel: red in the face, shaky, and exhausted. Other residents had already descended, helping them with their things and telling them where they can get cleaned up and have something to eat. She started to walk over to do the same, wanting to help them get settled, when one of the men turned around. 

Five felt her heart plummet into her stomach and her feet stop working so abruptly that she stumbled. For a second, she was miles away from Abel, miles away from her friends and safety. She felt dizzy from how quickly the blood drained from her face. There was a hand on her shoulder, and she flinched slightly at the feel of it. 

“Only me,” said Jody, very concerned. Sam hovered nearby looking quite the same. “Everything okay?”

Five looked back at the group, but the man was gone. Or maybe he hadn’t been there at all. Maybe Five was just seeing things, just loopy from all the sprinting earlier. She hadn’t slept all that well the night before. Maybe she just needed to take a nap. But she had been so  _ sure _ …

“I’m fine. Sorry,” she signed with slightly shaky hands. “I have a cramp in my foot.”

Jody nodded sympathetically. “All that sprinting. She shaved four seconds off her best sprinting time just now, Sam. You should’ve seen her. Like watching the Flash.”

“The Flash in the flesh?” Sam quipped. 

Five managed a little smile and a short exhale that signified her laugh. “I’m going to stretch and lie down before dinner.”

“Sure you’re okay?” 

“Yes. I’ll see you both later.”

“Bye, then.”

Sam and Jody went off together, catching up to the pack of new residents to see how they could help. Five watched them walk off, craning her neck to see if the man appeared again, but no luck. 

Or, alternatively, the very best luck. 

She  _ had  _ to have been mistaken. 

Right?

Right. 

She made her way back to the training yard to stretch - it had been an excuse, but it was still a necessity - and hoped that the nagging voice in the back of her mind would quiet. It helped, and she physically felt better after a good stretch, but her mind still raced faster than her sprints. Any hope of actually grabbing a nap before dinner had long since fizzled out, so she opted to walk the perimeter of the township. 

Despite the circumstances that had led her here, Abel really did feel like home, and she had a deep love for it and the people within. The efforts here and there to make it more comfortable and attractive were really paying off, and the residents held a fierce pride for their hard work. 

She stopped at the latest project of Jules Newmann, a teenager with an incredible artistic eye, and took in the sight. It could be a bit overwhelming for anyone who wasn’t used to it, seeing all those handprints in all those different paints. All those names. The wall had began simply as an attempt to add a splash of color to the quad, but it had become something more in the time since it began. Some of those handprints had been carefully outlined by black paint, indicating the fallen. Too many. The wall was equal parts art project, census, and memorial, and it always gave Five a little chill to see it. 

She wondered if her handprint would ever be ringed in black. 

That was the thing about life now - it was never just living. It was surviving, maybe.

By the time she had done two laps around the township, it was time to eat, and her stomach rumbled at the scent of what she guessed were fried potatoes, peas, and carrots. It was early still, but several of the runners were already wolfing down their meals and laughing together. Five grabbed her own plate and joined them. It was hard for her to contribute in large, fast conversations like the runners were currently having, but she enjoyed the company all the same. 

“Incoming,” said Simon at one point, nodding toward the entrance, where several of the new residents were filing in. 

“They look quite a bit better than they did on arrival, eh?” said Sara, craning her neck to get a better glance. 

“Still look a bit shell-shocked, though. Can’t say I blame them. Well, a hot meal and a lie-down will put them right soon enough. What d’you think, Five?”

Five nodded in agreement, then peered over at the group as they made their way to the line for food. They were all quiet, looking around the place with dazed expressions. It had to be overwhelming, all this organization after so much time in chaos. Five’s experience had been something of the opposite, having come from a bona fide military base to Abel. She looked hard at each face as the men walked past, searching for that familiar one that had caused such a reaction earlier, but he wasn’t there. 

Still…

After dinner, Five swung by her room to grab her dry-erase board and a marker, then made her way toward the farmhouse. She found Janine there in the front room, poring over some handwritten notes. 

“Runner Five,” said Janine, formal as ever. “May I help you with something?”

Five wrote as quickly and legibly as possible. 

_ Is that the list of the new residents? _

“Yes, I’m working on it now. Alphabetizing and assigning housing,” said Janine, holding up the papers. 

_ Theo Wallace? _

A name Five would rather forget. Janine frowned at the board, then glanced down at the papers. She checked it twice and shook her head.

“Nobody by that name, I’m afraid.”

The relief that rushed through Five must have been visible, because Janine’s frown deepened. 

“Is there something I should know?”

Five tucked the board under her arm and signed “No. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome. Is there anything else you need?”

Five shook her head and waved a goodbye before making her way back outside. She felt lighter than air. It had never felt better to be mistaken about something, to have just imagined things. 

That night, she slept peacefully. 


	2. Chapter Two

Five rose early, as was her habit when the weather began to turn colder. After morning stretches and a quick wash, she stopped by the canteen to greet the cooks and pick up some instant coffee in mismatched mugs before making her way to the comms shack. It had become something of a tradition to bring Sam a cup of something on mornings she didn’t have a run, and she was looking forward to seeing her cheerful friend when her own mood was so light. 

Sam wasn’t at his desk yet, so she sat on an overturned crate outside and sipped her coffee, taking in the sight of the township coming to life. She got a cuddle from Molly when she skipped past with Ed, and the distant sound of Bonnie barking as Evan took her for a morning walk brought a smile to her face.

She was watching those assigned to the herb garden heading there with their gloves and baskets when a couple of the men who arrived the day before passed by. She started to raise a hand to greet them when one of them glanced directly at her and she froze. 

The man from yesterday.

It  _ was  _ him. It  _ was  _ Theo Wallace. Seeing him up close, seeing his face dead-on, there was absolutely no mistaking it.

He looked away almost immediately, and she couldn’t tell if he recognized her or not. The last time they had seen each other, her hair had been longer and dyed dark brown, she still had her glasses, and she hadn’t been quite as lean as she was now. Combine those with the fact that she was wearing long sleeves and leggings, which meant her numerous tattoos were completely covered, and the likelihood of her being recognized at a glance was low. 

She recognized him, though. There was no doubting it. His was a face she would never be able to scrub from her mind. 

“Five!”

She jumped up, rattled, spilling her coffee on her knee. Sam dove to catch the mug before it broke on the ground, laughing. 

“Sorry, didn’t mean to interrupt whatever you were daydreaming about,” he says good-naturedly. “You okay? Coffee wasn’t too hot, was it? Can’t have our runners charring their knees, that’ll ruin your gait.”

Five shoved his mug at him so her hands would be free. “I need to go inside.”

Sam’s smile faded and he opened the door for her. Five rushed inside, clenching her hands together the way someone who spoke might clench their jaw. She paced around for a moment, needing to gather her thoughts, and Sam waited as patiently as he ever could manage. 

“Five, what’s going on? You’re making me nervous.”

“I need your help,” she signed stiffly.

Sam blinked and set the mugs down on the desk. “Yeah, of course. What’s up?”

“I need to talk to Janine. It’s too much to write on a board. Will you interpret?”

“Yeah, I’ll do my best. But what -”

“Let’s go.”

Five grabbed Sam’s hand and started to pull him out of the shack as fast as she could before she lost her nerve. Sam was obviously surprised, but he didn’t fight her on it, letting her lead him all the way to Janine. When it came time to knock on the door, though, she found herself suddenly blocked from doing so, like her hands had grown to a hundred pounds apiece. Sam sensed her anxiety and stepped in front of her without letting go of her hand, then knocked in her place. 

“Mr. Yao, aren’t you supposed to be preparing for the morning runs?” Janine said by way of greeting when she opened the door just a crack, clearly not planning to invite Sam in. 

“Yes, but - well, this is important,” said Sam. 

“Actually important or important like needing help with your crossword again?”

“Actually important.”

It must have been the way Sam said it - calm and low, with no trace of his usual bouncy energy - that prompted Janine to open the door. When she saw Five clutching Sam’s hand, her eyebrows raised. 

“Oh, Runner Five. Come in.”

Sam gave Five’s hand a squeeze and let go so she could walk in first. Janine leaned against her desk and waited patiently. When Sam positioned himself halfway between Five and Janine, Janine gave him a look. 

“Not trying to invade your space, but Five asked me to translate,” he explained. “Easier to see from this angle.”

“Very well, Mr. Yao. Runner Five, what is the matter?”

Five took a breath. As she signed, Sam interpreted aloud. 

“Yesterday I asked you about Theo Wallace.”

“Yes, I remember.”

“He is here.”

“Runner Five, I took down the names of the new residents myself. I assure you -”

“He is here. His name is different.”

“You’re saying someone is here using a false identity?” asked Janine, suddenly much more interested, given her strict security of Abel. “And you’re certain? You know this man personally?”

Five hesitated. “Yes.”

“And what is the nature of your relationship?”

Five hesitated again, not quite meeting Janine’s eyes anymore. 

“You’re okay,” Sam quietly encouraged. 

Five squeezed her hands into nervous fists and shook them out before continuing. 

“He was in my group right after the outbreak,” she signed as Sam spoke. “We traveled together for almost a month. He-”

She signed something Sam didn’t recognize. “Sorry, I don’t know that one.”

Five spelled it out. “A-T-T-A-C-K-E-D me.”

Both Sam and Janine were very still and quiet at that. They glanced at each other, Janine much more subtle about it. She stopped leaning back against her desk and stood straight. 

“Do you want to sit down?” Janine offered, her voice much softer. 

Five shook her head. 

“All right. Take your time, Five, but please...do go on, if you can.”

Five kept her eyes somewhere to the left of Janine as she continued her story. Sam’s voice became tighter as he interpreted.

“We all took turns sleeping and guarding. It was my turn to guard. I heard something and went to look, and he surprised me. He pushed me to the ground and grabbed at me.”

“Did he…” Janine began, clearly trying to figure out how to phrase the question delicately. 

“No. But he tried. I hit him and I ran away.” 

Sam couldn’t resist adding to that. “Good. Hope it hurt.”

“Mr. Yao, I’ll remind you that you are here to interpret, not add your own commentary,” Janine admonished. “Although I agree. Did you tell anyone what happened? Anyone in your group?”

Five hesitated for a moment before she started to sign, as though unsure of how to explain herself. 

“I tried,” she signed. “No one knew sign language, and we didn’t have paper. I tried to write it in the dirt.”

“And what did they do?”

Five signed something and Sam forgot to interpret, instead letting out a disgusted huff of air. Janine looked sharply at him and he remembered his task. 

“They didn’t believe her,” he said, his expression a cross between angry and queasy.

“I believe you, Runner Five,” said Janine without hesitation. 

“Yeah, so do I.”

Five went on. “Theo told the others that he had tried to take my food and I caught him. He said I attacked him for it and then apologized in front of everyone so he would look good. I was angry and scared, but I didn’t know what to do. A week later, he tried again. He got further. Someone saw him, and this time they believed me because it was so clear what was happening, and made him leave the group. I never knew what happened to him after that.”

“Well, now we have some idea,” said Janine. “He changed his name to cover himself and found a new group to travel with.”

“And now he’s here, and he’s dangerous,  _ and  _ he has a history with Five” said Sam.

“And who knows how many other people he has preyed upon in the meantime.”

Five felt very small and somehow uneven, like the ground below her was shifting slightly with each passing second. Sam stepped just a little closer to her, as though wanting to be nearby if she should fall over. Janine pinched the bridge of her nose and pushed a lock of hair away from her face. 

“All right. First things first. I know this is probably an absurd question, but I have to ask it. Are you all right, Runner Five?” Janine asked, gentler than Five had ever heard her. 

Five nodded. 

“Obviously, I’m not sure which of the men is this Theo Wallace, and I’m not about to make you go up to them and take a look. If you could just describe him for me, I will locate him myself.”

“He’s six feet and thin, dark eyes, blond hair, and his nose…” Sam squinted at Five, trying to understand what she had signed. She repeated herself, then did a crude, made-up sign, which he got. “Oh. His nose is crooked, right?”

Five nodded in confirmation. 

“And he has a scar on his left forearm, about three inches long.”

Janine jotted all this down. Sam looked between her and Five several times, then couldn’t seem to keep himself from speaking. 

“What are you going to do, Janine?” he asked. 

“First and foremost, I am going to have him removed from Abel Township as quickly as possible,” Janine answered, the familiar brusqueness back in her voice. 

“What, you’ll just...throw him out? Let him take his chance with the zoms?”

“As much as I would enjoy that, no, unfortunately not. There is still some semblance of law and order around here, and sadly I have to obey that. However, what I  _ can  _ do is have him taken to New Canton and let  _ them  _ decide what to do with him. I understand they have a very unpleasant brig and absolutely no mercy for predators. Now, Runner Five, I hate to ask you, but in order for this to have the result we surely all want, I’ll need an official, written statement from you. I do not wish to rush you, but obviously the sooner the better. Do you think you could write it out and sign it by this afternoon?”

Five just stared for a moment, shocked by how quickly Janine was moving on this. She nodded, dazed. 

“Good. You are more than welcome to write it out in here so that you have plenty of quiet and privacy. In the meantime, I will determine what Wallace’s assumed name is, and Mr. Yao, I will need you to get back to your post and continue the day as usual. We still have runs to complete.”

“I, uh...I...right. Yeah,” said Sam reluctantly. “Five, you’ll be okay on your own?”

“I’m fine,” Five signed. 

“You’re sure?”

“I’m fine. Thank you.”

“Okay. Well...you know where to find me, then, yeah?”

Five managed to give him a small smile, which he returned, though the concern was nowhere near leaving his eyes. He made an odd little gesture, like he had been about to reach out for her and thought better of it, then stuffed his hands into the pocket of his sweatshirt and gave her a nod before heading out to get to work. Janine looked at Five for a moment, keen eyes assessing her. 

“I appreciate you coming to me, Runner Five,” she said, her clipped tone softening again. “I also appreciate how difficult this must be. And...and I am sorry, for what it’s worth, that you went through something like that.”

Five wasn’t sure what to say, but Janine wasn’t the sort of person who would expect her to come up with something. She walked to the other side of her desk and put some fresh paper in her typewriter. 

“Take your time. And help yourself to some tea.”

Janine gathered her things and made her way out, as composed as ever. 

Five sat down at the desk and, after several minutes of stillness, began to type.


	3. Chapter Three

Theo Wallace was removed from Abel Township two days after Five gave her statement to Janine. 

It was a quiet affair, just him with a couple of runners from each town as escorts, and Five wondered what gift she could possibly find for Janine on her next supply run that would express her gratitude for that. She hadn’t wanted attention drawn to all this. She just wanted it taken care of, and it was, and she found herself reeling at that - somehow the near-total collapse of society made it easier for women to be taken seriously when they came forward about assault. There was probably a lesson there somewhere. 

She couldn’t celebrate, though. She wanted to. Felt like she should. A bad guy was caught. He was going to face consequences. It was the unheard of outcome, the possibility no one who came forward about these sorts of things ever let themselves fully entertain. And yet...it didn’t change what had happened to her. It didn’t take it away or erase it or even put a film over it to make it easier to bear. 

Maybe with time. 

Five had opted to return to her room after the morning’s run. It had been fairly uneventful, just a quick trip to check some cameras, only a few zombies to dispatch, and after a brief check by Maxine and the requisite shower, she found herself with an afternoon free. Janine had been light on Five’s schedule over the past couple of days, which had allowed her to keep out of Wallace’s way as much as possible, and she could not have been more grateful for it. She picked up the book she had borrowed from the township’s small but ever-growing library and stretched out on her cot to read a chapter or two, hoping it would quiet her mind. 

She had only managed a few pages when a knock at her door - “door” being used in the loosest sense as it was really a piece of tarp strung up between the two connecting walls - alerted her to someone’s presence. 

“Five? You there?”

Sam. Five rolled off her bed and pulled the tarp aside. Sam held two mugs full of hot tea, which by the smell of it wasn’t the cheap, bulk stuff from the kitchens. He smiled at her, but it was a reserved smile, one that gave away his worry. 

“I figured you’ve brought me enough hot drinks, it was time I returned the favor,” he said, holding up the mugs. 

“You mean you wanted to check on me,” signed Five.

“I...well…” Sam stammered. “Okay, yes. But I  _ did  _ also think you could use a cup of tea. It’s from Janine’s personal stash. Don’t tell her or she’ll throttle me.”

Five reached out for the mug he offered and stepped back to allow him entrance. He relaxed a bit as he walked in, glancing at the pictures taped up on the thin walls. One of them caught his eye and he peered at it. It was a drawing of Five, done by several of the younger children, showing her handing out toys.

“That...that is adorable,” said Sam. “Those kids love you.”

“I love them too.”

Sam looked at her then and accepted her gestured invitation to sit on her cot with her. Five looked into her mug rather than at him. It wasn’t that she was uncomfortable, and certainly not with Sam, but she was…

Tired. That’s what it was. Tired. Weighed down, when she should be feeling lighter than air. 

Sam bumped her shoulder with his. “Hey. You did a hard thing, and it turned out all right in the end, yeah?”

“Yes, but I feel…” Five didn’t know where to go from there. 

“It’s okay if you’re not exactly jumping for joy right now. I can’t imagine what I’d be feeling if it were me. I don’t think there’s any right or wrong there.” 

“I want to be happy about it.”

“I know.”

“I’m scared,” Five admitted. “I think I’m more scared of him than I am of zombies.”

“I get that. But you know you’re safe from him now, right?”

“I do  _ know  _ that, but I don’t know if I can  _ believe  _ it yet.”

“Yeah...yeah, I get that too.”

They sat quietly for a moment and sipped their tea. Five set hers down and turned to face Sam more fully. 

“Thank you for interpreting the other day,” she signed. “I know it was a lot to ask.”

“No, not at all.”

“And thank you for believing me.”

Sam’s expression changed then. His face was usually as easy to read as a neon sign, but Five couldn’t make heads or tails of what he might be thinking. She hesitated, then couldn’t stop herself from going on, from getting something off her chest that had been bothering her for a long time.

“Wallace hated me for not talking. He would go on and on about how I was going to get them all killed because I couldn’t be bothered to call out a warning. Like I’m mute just for fun or something. He got some of the others in our group to side with him on that. Sometimes he would make some comment about it, call me some stupid name. After the first time he tried to...he made fun of me for not talking. He said no one would have believed me anyway since I didn’t scream.”

Sam’s face hardened at that. Sweet as he was, Five knew he had one hell of a temper when the occasion called for it, and she could tell he was imagining landing a good punch on Wallace’s face just then. 

“Maybe he was right. You would think that if there were anything that could get me to use my voice, it would be something like that, even just to be defiant. But it just made it even harder. I only got quieter,” said Five, her signs smaller and closer to her body then, as though whispering. 

“No,” Sam said sharply. “No, he wasn’t right, and don’t let him get in your head like that.”

“I can’t help it.”

“I...I know. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean...look, what I  _ did  _ mean is that he was wrong, and that bad people will poke at anything they think is a vulnerability, that’s all.”

Five’s eyes dropped at that. 

“You didn’t need to use your voice to speak up the other day, did you?” Sam pointed out. Five just shrugged. “No, I mean it. I’m not just saying it. You know that no one here sees it as a weakness that you don’t talk, right?”

Five shrugged again and picked up her tea. 

“I’m serious. Look, we’ve all got something. Something we can’t or don’t do, for whatever reason. My sister, for example...when we were kids, we were at the beach, and she was swimming kind of far out. She’s a good swimmer, so it’s not like anyone was worried. But she started having an asthma attack, and...well, it took us a few minutes to realize what was happening. My dad had to swim out as fast as he could to get her. She nearly drowned. Took her years to get back in the water, and she’d never put her head under. I don’t think any less of her because of that. It’s just how she reacted to something that happened to her. That’s sort of like you not talking, right?”

Five’s mouth quirked in a half-smile. No, it wasn’t  _ quite  _ the same, but he had a point, and she appreciated him making it. She leaned against him, resting her head on his shoulder, and after a moment he put an arm around her. That was one great thing about Sam - he was still a naturally affectionate person. The apocalypse hadn’t robbed him of that quality the way it had done to others. Five had struggled for a long time after Z-Day with feeling starved of touch, with the only human contact she experienced for months being either violent or purely mechanical. Meeting Sam had not only changed that for her, but had also allowed her to find a man she knew she could trust right away. She wasn’t sure she couldn’t admit it to him just yet, not with everything still so fresh and raw, but he had saved her from more than just zombies. 

“You’re amazing, Five,” Sam said quietly after a moment. “Really. Not just because of the running. Or the zombie fighting. Or the general heroism. Or the fact you could kick my ass with your eyes closed. Although all that certainly helps.”

Five laughed silently against him, and his arm tightened around her a bit. She closed her eyes and just let herself soak up his warmth for a minute. It reminded her of when she was little and her mom tucked her under the electric blanket during family movie nights. 

“You’ll be okay, you know,” Sam went on. “Maybe not right away, but you will be. And if you ever want to talk about it, or if you want to be distracted from it or whatever...you always know where to find me, yeah?”

Five nodded, not wanting to move away from him yet. They stayed like that for a long time, until Five nearly fell asleep. Sam must have felt her getting heavier against him, because he laughed softly and shifted. She blinked blearily at him. 

“Get some rest,” he said, tugging the blanket on her bed down a bit. “Come find me later. We’ll break into the contraband and eat ourselves sick on chocolate, and maybe we can convince the guys to play some of your stuff on the radio.”

Good old Sam, offering chocolate and 80’s pop instead of tea and sympathy. Five nodded and yawned, lying down, and Sam saw himself out. 

When she slept, she dreamed of that horrible incident. But this time, she also dreamed of her own victory, and it was enough for now.


End file.
